Love in the Lab: How Scientists Study Affection
Original Article: http://www.brainfacts.org/Sensing-Thinking-Behaving/Mood/Articles/2013/Love-in-the-Lab-How-Scientists-Study-Affection
Summary:
In this article, scientists wanted to study the brain what exactly happens in the brain when being in love and what goes into maintaining a long-term monogamous relationship. In this case, and many others, prairie voles were used because they differ from other animals due to their unique forming of monogamous, long-term relationships as humans do. The scientists tested their fidelity by bringing in an opposite gender vole into the area after the original two voles had mated and measured how long it would take that vole to interact with the new vole. They found that more often than not, the vole spent more time with its partner than the new vole.
When measuring their brain activity, the scientists notice the activation of the ventral tegmental area which contains a lot of dopamine and serotonin neurons. The dopamine that gets released triggers the reward system in the brain. The female monogamous prairie voles also release oxytocin for the reward which triggers bond making. Larry Young contributes the combination of dopamine and oxytocin to the want to spend time with their partner. The male prairie voles, arginine vasopressin is the hormone released that is relate to aggression and being territorial which also triggers pair-bonding.
Although this study has not reached a complete human understanding, it does help scientists understand human relationships more. These hormones at different levels can explain a person's relationship habits.
Reaction:
I found this article interesting because as an animal behavior major, I find studies of animals to help explain human actions and reactions fascinating. Although human and animal experiences differ, it is astounding to see that such different species can parallel in the world of relationships down to the brain activity associated with it. This also caught my attention because it did coincide with what we had learned in class about the ventral tegmental area. Overall, animals are incredible subjects to learn from and they can help us learn a lot about ourselves as humans.
Summary:
In this article, scientists wanted to study the brain what exactly happens in the brain when being in love and what goes into maintaining a long-term monogamous relationship. In this case, and many others, prairie voles were used because they differ from other animals due to their unique forming of monogamous, long-term relationships as humans do. The scientists tested their fidelity by bringing in an opposite gender vole into the area after the original two voles had mated and measured how long it would take that vole to interact with the new vole. They found that more often than not, the vole spent more time with its partner than the new vole.
When measuring their brain activity, the scientists notice the activation of the ventral tegmental area which contains a lot of dopamine and serotonin neurons. The dopamine that gets released triggers the reward system in the brain. The female monogamous prairie voles also release oxytocin for the reward which triggers bond making. Larry Young contributes the combination of dopamine and oxytocin to the want to spend time with their partner. The male prairie voles, arginine vasopressin is the hormone released that is relate to aggression and being territorial which also triggers pair-bonding.
Although this study has not reached a complete human understanding, it does help scientists understand human relationships more. These hormones at different levels can explain a person's relationship habits.
Reaction:
I found this article interesting because as an animal behavior major, I find studies of animals to help explain human actions and reactions fascinating. Although human and animal experiences differ, it is astounding to see that such different species can parallel in the world of relationships down to the brain activity associated with it. This also caught my attention because it did coincide with what we had learned in class about the ventral tegmental area. Overall, animals are incredible subjects to learn from and they can help us learn a lot about ourselves as humans.
I agree with you, I find it so interesting how science shows correlations between humans and animals. When scientists do these animal experiments, I wonder do they ever test love between same-sex animals and would that be similar the to same sensation that humans of the same-sex feel for each other.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that it is very interesting how researchers use the studying of animals to relate back to human behavior. You would never think that an animal like this could be used in comparison to humans. I thought it was very cute that they found that the animals preferred to spend time with their partner rather than the new animal because that is when the release of dopamine and oxytocin occurred.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is very interesting how researchers are able to use animal studies and relate them so much to human behavior. It is so interesting to me that the animals actually expressed monogamous behaviors and made me wonder why else they have in common with humans.
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